Sigma's Art series of prime lenses delivers extremely sharp photos, even when shot wide open, at prices less than first-party options. The 85mm F1.4 DG HSM Art ($1,199) continues the trend, undercutting the Nikkor 85mm f/1.4G ($1,599) and the Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L ($1,899) on price, without sacrificing any performance. It's an Editors' Choice, even though it omits image stabilization. If you value that feature over an f/1.4 design, don't count out the Tamron SP 85mm f/1.8 Di VC USD, which is superb in its own right.

Design

The 85mm Art is a big, chunky lens. It measures 5.0 by 3.7 inches (HD), weighs 2.5 pounds, and supports 86mm front filters. It's finished in black, with a polycarbonate barrel, and includes front and rear caps, a reversible lens hood, and a protective carrying case. It's much larger than the Tamron 85mm f/1.8 (3.6 by 3.3 inches, 1.5 pounds), but captures 50 percent more light and images with a shallower depth of field when shot at its maximum f/1.4 aperture.

You can buy the 85mm Art in a Canon EF, Nikon F, or Sigma SA version. We received the Nikon edition for review. The bulk of the barrel is taken up by a manual focus ring. It's finished in textured rubber and comfortable to turn, offering enough resistance for a true mechanical manual focus feel. Set focus distance is displayed in a transparent window, with a depth of field scale marked at f/8 and f/16.

A toggle switch on the side switches between manual and autofocus operation. When I received my test copy of the lens I noticed that autofocus wasn't quite spot on, but thankfully that's an easy fix. Even if your camera body doesn't support focus adjustments, you can calibrate the lens using the Sigma USB Dock—it's a very solid purchase if you own Sigma lenses, as it also lets you upgrade lens firmware.

Minimum focus is at 2.8 feet (0.85-meter), which doesn't put the lens anywhere near macro territory—at its best it projects images at 1:8.3 life-size. That's pretty typical for an 85mm lens—it's a fine working distance for most subjects, including head-and-shoulders portraits.

There's no image stabilization. It's not a huge deal if you're shooting in a studio or outdoors in bright light, as the challenge will be to keep your camera's ISO low enough to work at f/1.4 or f/2 under those conditions. But it is a concern for event photographers who want to stop down a bit to get more of an image in focus, and for handheld video work. The Tamron 85mm is one of the few 85mm designs on the market that is stabilized, and is a better choice if your style of photography lends itself to shooting with steadied glass.

Image Quality

I tested the 85mm Art with the 36MP, full-frame Nikon D810. Image quality at f/1.4 is exceptional, netting 3,222 lines per picture height on a center-weighted test. The weighting isn't really needed, however, as the outer edges of our test shot are just as sharp as the center. This isn't the sharpest 85mm we've seen at f/1.4—the Zeiss Otus 1.4/85 manages 3,376 lines on the same D810 test body—but it's a manual-focus-only, $5,000 lens. The Sigma supports autofocus and is much less expensive.

There's a very minor improvement in sharpness at f/2, at 3,259 lines. As you stop down further the lens takes better advantage of the D810's high-resolution image sensor—3,728 lines at f/2.8, 3,943 lines at f/4, 4,054 lines at f/5.6, and peak performance (4,194 lines) at f/8. Diffraction sets in at f/11, cutting resolution to 4,087 lines, and is more detrimental at the minimum f/16 setting (3,756 lines). The Tamron 85mm actually delivers crisper images at its best—it approaches 4,800 lines at f/8. That's about as much resolution as we've seen from any lens when paired with the D810.

There's almost no visible vignette in images shot with the Sigma, even at f/1.4. The Imatest Uniformity tool shows that corners lag behind the center by less than one f-stop when shooting the lens wide open (-0.9EV), which is within our 1EV tolerance. This is one area where the Sigma betters the Tamron—it captures images with a noticeable vignette at wider apertures. At narrower apertures the deficit drops to an imperceptible -0.2EV. Likewise, the lens shows no visible distortion.

Conclusions

There are no complaints to be made about the Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG HSM Art from an optical perspective—it's an impeccable performer, capturing images with loads of detail, even when shot wide open at f/1.4 It's the big f-stop that will draw photographers to the lens. Build quality matches its optics, and the price is much less than comparable lenses from Canon and Nikon. Really, the only thing missing is image stabilization. If it's a priority, and you don't mind an f/1.8 lens, the Tamron SP 85mm is another excellent option, available for less. But for photographers who lust after an f/1.4 lens, the Sigma 85mm is an easy pick as Editors' Choice.

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About the Author

Senior digital camera analyst for the PCMag consumer electronics reviews team, Jim Fisher is a graduate of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he concentrated on documentary video production. Jim's interest in photography really took off when he borrowed his father's Hasselblad 500C and light meter in 2007.

He honed his writing skills at retailer B&H Photo, where he wrote thousands upon thousands of product descriptions, blog posts, and reviews. Since then he's shot with hundreds of camera models, ranging from pocket point-and-shoots to medium format digital cameras. And he's reviewed almost all of them. When he's not testing cameras and gear for PCMag, he's likely out and about shooting with ... See Full Bio